Like many of BioWare's games, Mass Effect 3 is chock full of optional reading materials about its history and characters. It's interesting, but it can be a chore to read on your television.

Enter Mass Effect 3 Datapad, a free app that publisher Electronic Arts released today for iPhone and iPad. It's designed to complement the full game by giving you mobile access to news, your war map, and a full library of codex entries to peruse at your discretion, wherever and whenever you want. It also gives you round-the-clock access to Mass Effect 3's charming characters, who will text you messages as you interact with them in your real copy of the game.